Regional Intergovernmental Organizations Research Articles

Protection for Hire: Cooperation through Regional Organizations

Abstract There is growing evidence that leaders cooperate through regional intergovernmental organizations (RIOs) to address domestic security challenges. What sustains this collaboration? I present a theory of regional cooperation driven by mutual interest in stability and protection for heads of state. RIOs support the development of rules and norms around contributing to regional security and can legitimize pro-government military interventions. Leaders concerned that they may need external support—particularly against members of their own military—cooperate to remain in good standing with co-members. Using original security personnel deployment data for members of four Africa-based RIOs with mutual defense pacts between 1990 and 2017, I show that leaders facing higher coup risk were more likely to deploy personnel to support co-members. I also find evidence for the underlying mechanism—that these leaders contribute because they expect RIO members to reciprocate support in the future. Leaders who contributed more personnel to support co-members, and leaders who contributed more often, were more likely to receive military support from co-members in the future. These findings shed light on the dynamics sustaining regional security cooperation.

Stabilizing Authoritarian Rule: The Role of International Organizations

Abstract Research has demonstrated how membership in more democratic regional intergovernmental organizations (ROs) can strengthen the prospects for democracy. However, a significant number of ROs are dominated by autocratic members who have quite different preferences: to limit democratic contagion and consolidate authoritarian rule against democratic challengers. We outline a menu of mechanisms through which ROs with authoritarian memberships might have pernicious effects on the prospects for democratic rule. We use cross-national quantitative analyses to demonstrate that membership in more deeply authoritarian international organizations is associated with autocratization. We supplement the quantitative results with an analysis of twenty-nine of the most authoritarian ROs and illustrative case studies. The multi-method approach strengthens inference by showing that authoritarian international organizations do in fact engage in behaviors inimical to democratic rule.

Obligations to ‘Strangers’

Abstract Proceeding from the assumption that international criminal justice is a cosmopolitan project, the article advances a reconceptualized understanding of cosmopolitanism as a theoretical basis for collective action in ensuring accountability for international crimes. The article examines the building blocks of cosmopolitanism, and how the concept’s emphasis on equality and unity of the human family can guarantee its fundamental values of human dignity and shared humanity. Based on the understanding that international crimes assault humanity’s fundamental and cosmopolitan value of human dignity, and that accountability for such crimes is a cosmopolitan objective, the article advances the argument that while accountability for international crimes is primarily the obligation of individual sovereign states, this responsibility is ultimately residually one of humanity as a whole, exercisable through humanity’s collective action such as through regional intergovernmental organizations where an individual state is unable or unwilling by itself to do so.

Regional Intergovernmental Organizations to Conflict Prevention and Resolution: The Case of the African Union in the Nile River Conflict

International intergovernmental organizations play various roles, including settling conflicts, promoting peaceful coexistence, cooperation among member states, human rights, and economic and social development. Regional intergovernmental organizations that act as a last resort are better suited to prevent and resolve conflicts at a region level due to their regional positioning, knowledge, and understanding of the root causes, ability to influence and facilitate conflict settlement, and their legitimacy standing. This paper aimed to explore the role of regional intergovernmental organizations in conflict prevention and resolution with the case of the African Union (AU) in the Nile River conflict. Specifically, the paper looked at factors for and against conflict prevention in the Nile, the AU’s role as a regional intergovernmental organization in preventing and resolving conflict in the Nile River conflict, and the role of non-state actors, IGOs, and UN’s Security Council in enhancing AU’s role in conflict prevention and resolution. The paper deployed a qualitative case study methodology with 20 structured interviews, open questionnaires, and secondary sources to examine the phenomenon. Consequently, the study used an analytical category development matrix to develop meaningful emerging themes from the data collected. The findings and analysis showed various factors hindering AU’s full operationalization in the Nile River conflict, including the African states’ ideology (imported democracy) with sub-factors such as colonial factors, external influence, African politics and leadership, and self-interests. Further, the Nile states have different interests that require a joint solution that caters to each party’s interests, with compromise in consideration. As a regional organization, the AU is well positioned to prevent and resolve the Nile River conflict (what the researcher termed as an Afri-Nile solution). Additionally, the international intergovernmental organizations and non-state actors can enhance the AU’s role through collaboration and cooperation (the researcher termed Cop-Lab). The study supported realism and liberalism theories that explained the Nile states’ rift and the potential for conflict resolution from a regional perspective. However, what works in Africa may be inapplicable in other regions and, therefore, essential to approach regional organizations per context.

Regional Intergovernmental Organization Response to COVID-19: The Impact of Neoliberalism on Bureaucratic Autonomy.

COVID-19 is a transboundary crisis that crosses political boundaries and affects critical infrastructure. Given the ongoing nature of COVID-19, it is vital to recognize the factors that impact an organization’s ability to respond to crises. In this article, we use the concept of bureaucratic autonomy discussed by Bauer and Ege (2016) to examine the response of four regional intergovernmental organizations. We find here that neoliberalism as a dominating global ideology has transformed the autonomy of action dimension into autonomy of finance, with the focus on enabling private firms through adjusting incentive structures, rather than taking direct action. Organizations that lack this autonomy become the benefactors of other dominant neoliberal financing institutions, thus furthering the entrenchment of neoliberalism and neoliberal finance.JEL Classification: F53, F55, P16

Assessment of SAARC nations' solar energy potential for sustainable development

Energy is very vital for the economic development and prosperity of any nation. Expanding a country's use of renewable energy sources can help it meet its current and future energy needs, as well as spur economic growth. Sustainable energy supply, electrification rate, population shifts, and per-capita power use affect economic development and prosperity. Electricity use is a key sign of a country's economic growth, and as the economy grows, so does the need for energy. Electricity generation relies on the availability of primary sources, implementation of technology as well as on policy imperatives. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are India, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. SAARC countries are wealthy in natural resources, yet economic growth is a difficulty. This study aims to assess the solar energy potential of SAARC countries, which has received little attention. Prior research on solar energy possibilities in SAARC concentrated on one country or group. According to the study, SAARC countries rely heavily on imported fossil fuels and a single energy source. Renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, are important for their sustainable expansion, diversity of energy basket, energy security, and fulfilling rising electricity demand. The SAARC region has superior daily average horizontal sun irradiances than the UK and Germany, indicating untapped potential for solar photovoltaic systems. This study aims to encourage stakeholders to execute efficient solar energy governance planning for sustainable growth.

Analysis on the Global Health Diplomacy of ASEAN Countries under COVID-19

Global health diplomacy is a new form of diplomacy. Affected by COVID-19, countries have been actively engaged in global health diplomacy, and cooperation in fighting the epidemic has become the norm. ASEAN countries have used the epidemic as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation in the field of health and health. On the one hand, as the most important and influential regional intergovernmental international organization in Southeast Asia, ASEAN provides ASEAN member states with an efficient platform for global health diplomacy. On the other hand, ASEAN countries also conduct global health diplomacy through traditional bilateral diplomatic channels. ASEAN countries have developed their own special experience in the global health diplomacy to combat COVID-19, that is, bilateral diplomacy and multilateral diplomacy go hand in hand, which has important implications for other countries in the world on carrying out global health diplomacy to fight against COVID-19.

Regional intergovernmental organizations in the Global South: Emerging education policy nodes between the global and the national

Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) play unclear roles in education policy making and transfer. Much comparative education scholarship on the topic focuses on exploring the interplay between global and local/national actors in education policy, overlooking regional dimensions. To deepen our understanding, we analyzed the strategic plans of four RIGOs in Africa, the Arab and Islamic worlds, and Southeast Asia. Qualitative policy analysis is employed to reveal the roles RIGOs aspire to play in educational development. Of the what, how, and why dimensions of policy, this study focuses on the last two, as they reveal the rationales the RIGOs provided to justify their organizational positioning, their strategies to contribute to education policy, and their mediations with the national and the global. Our analysis has showed that RIGOs position themselves as significant actors in educational development in their respective regions, playing several complementary and sometimes conflicting roles. Analysis via institutional theory of the interplay of national, regional, and global contexts has revealed organizational isomorphism, decoupling between policy and practice, expansive structuration, otherhood engagements, and scientization and rationalization of organizational work. The RIGOs view themselves as elaborators of global models and, simultaneously, promoters of regionalism. Implications for education policy and research are identified.

Perspective on Sub-national Governance of Crossborder Regions: Democratic Governance in Anti-democratic Times?

In the past decades, subnational cooperation between municipalities and regions has become more common all over the world. In Europe and its neighborhood this tendency has been especially visible, much due to policy advocacy and technical assistance by regional intergovernmental organizations such as the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This development accelerated in the 1990s in tandem with the transition and democratization processes that started after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, in many places democratization has stopped or started to reverse, leading to backsliding away from democracy. While democracy has always been different in crossborder regions due to the special status of their governance arrangements, this new development accentuates a need for new tools to understand the implications of various threats to democracy for the future of crossborder cooperation. This Perspective article provides an overview of the literature on participatory governance and democracy with relation to border regions, and suggests some mechanisms whereby current backsliding developments might harm sub-national cross-border democracy and a way by which current indexes of democracy at the national level could be adapted to the “messy” spaces of cross-border regional governance. This allows the Perspective article to be useful to both further research in the area and policy practitioners. Empirical examples from Central and Eastern Europe, are used as illustrations.

An Item Response Theory Model of Inter-Regional Collaboration for Transportation Planning in the United States

Regional governments and regional intergovernmental organizations play an increasingly important role in land use and transportation planning in many countries. In the U.S., regional organizations such as metropolitan planning organizations provide regional forums and institutions to coordinate actions of local government necessary to overcome collective action problems that result from the fragmentation of local authority. Their regional scope allows them to directly address collaboration problems or broker collaborative arrangements among local governments within their boundaries. Nevertheless, the scale of regional problems often extends beyond the boundaries of these regional entities. Thus, collaboration across regional governance organizations is necessary to address problems that have multi-regional impacts, such as large transportation projects. Extant research generally measures regional collaboration based on counts of collaboration actions undertaken, but this does not account for the fact that some are symbolic, while others require resources and commitment. Drawing insights from the institutional collective action framework, we advance an explanation for how regional organizations overcome collaboration risks to participate in collaborative solutions to regional and multi-regional problems. The analysis employs a unique national survey of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and adds a novel application of item response theory (IRT) to capture differences in risk or difficulty among collaborative actions. The IRT results offer support for our ICA-based explanation of collaboration commitments. The implications of the findings for theory development and empirical study of RIGOs are discussed in conclusion.

Implementation of the principles and values of EU law in the national legal systems of the states parties

The article considers the goals and process of formation of the European Union as a regional intergovernmental organization. The general concept of the values of the European Union in the light of the Lisbon Treaty is given. The role and place of the EU normative documents - the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, in the formation of the fundamental values of the union are analyzed. The author notes that the basis of the values of the European Union is a set of fundamental human rights.The significance of the Copenhagen criteria for promoting the implementation of EU values by the state is analyzed. The Copenhagen Declaration identifies three sectors of requirements for a country aspiring to join the Community: the political sector, which requires the establishment and observance of the principles of democracy and the rule of human rights, and the economic sector, which requires fair competition. The third set of requirements is purely procedural and concerns the state’s obligation to adhere to the EU accession procedure.The author examines the state of implementation of the fundamental principles of the Union in the founding states on the example of the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic, as well as the implementation of Union values in countries that have recently become full members of the European Community. Thus, in Germa-ny and France today there is a fairly high level of implementation and compliance with the basic principles of the
 European Union, while in Poland recently there are some problems with this. Thus, for the last 7 years, this state has violated the values of the EU in two categories at once - in the category of personal and political rights. In 2020, the number of legal grounds for abortion in the Republic of Poland was limited, violating the right to the integrity of the person and his or her inviolability, which is one of the core values of the European Union.Іn 2017, the European Commission filed a lawsuit against Poland in the European Court of Justice for violating the requirements of the EU Treaty regarding the principle of judicial independence.

Scoping Science-Policy Arenas for Regional Ocean Governance in the Wider Caribbean Region

This paper explores the diversity of relationships that exist between science and policy and which underpin the uptake of science in oceans policy-making in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). We refer to these complex relationships, influenced by organizational culture and environments, as science-policy arenas. The paper examines the types of decisions that require science input, where the decision-making responsibility lies, who the science providers are, and how science gets translated into advice for a suite of 20 regional Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs). The picture that emerges is one of a diverse suite of well-structured and active science-policy processes, albeit with several deficiencies. These processes appear to be somewhat separated from a broad diversity of potential science inputs. The gap appears largely due to lack of accessibility and interest in both directions (providers <-> consumers), with IGOs apparently preferring to use a relatively small subset of available expertise. At the same time, there is a small number of boundary-spanners, many of which are newly emerging, that carry out a diversity of functions in seeking to address the gap. Based on our scoping assessment, there is an urgent need for actors to understand the networks of interactions and actively develop them for science-policy interfaces to be effective and efficient. This presents a major challenge for the region where most countries are small and have little if any science capacity. Innovative mechanisms that focus more on processes for accessing science than on assembling inventories of available information are needed. A managed information hub that can be used to build teams of scientists and advisors to address policy questions may be effective for the WCR given its institutional complexity. More broadly, recognition of the potential value of boundary spanning activities in getting science into policy is needed. Capacity for these should be built and boundary spanning organizations encouraged, formalized and mainstreamed.

The Significance of SAARC in the South Asia Region: A Theoretical Study

This article has investigated whether the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is significant in the South Asia region of Asia continent in the world or not. The SAARC was established on 8th December 1985. It is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. The present SAARC comprises of 8 member states such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is an economic and political organization in this region. The SAARC countries are of different sizes both geographically as well as population wise and have different resource endowments. With its population, economy and area wise, India is the largest country in the SAARC region. The basic driving force behind an establishment of the SAARC was the desire of the contracting parties for promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through strict adherence to the principles of an United Nations charter and Non-Alignment. The last 19th SAARC summit scheduled was supposed to be held at Islamabad in November 2016, but this was postponed after the terrorist attack at Uri in India. After this incident, the 19th SAARC summit was not held so far.

Moving Beyond Criminal Law Responses to Cybersecurity Governance in Africa

Measures to address the security challenges of the information society have given rise to the concept of cybersecurity governance. One major aspect of cybersecurity governance is the establishment of legal measures to criminalize and deter malicious acts that affect the integrity, confidentiality, availability and security of digital data and computer systems. Accordingly, several States and intergovernmental organizations across the world have established legal frameworks to promote cybersecurity governance. This is also the case in Africa. The African Union has adopted a Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, while other African regional intergovernmental organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community have established legal and policy frameworks for cybersecurity governance. In addition, many African States have developed legal and policy frameworks to promote cybersecurity, while some others in the process of developing such frameworks. However, most of Africa’s responses to cybersecurity governance have been focused on the establishment of criminal law measures. Yet while the establishment of criminal law measures is regarded as a critical component of cybersecurity governance, the isolated existence of such measures may not produce desirable outcomes in terms of minimizing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Africa’s information society. This paper seeks to make a case for the development of other critical components of cybersecurity governance, including technical and organizational measures and user education. It suggests that ‘stand-alone’ criminal law measures will not be able to reduce the rising trends of cyber-criminality in Africa, and that the timely development of other critical components of cybersecurity governance is imperative especially due to the peculiar challenge of weak law enforcement capacities and justice delivery systems in many African States.

Moving Beyond Criminal Law Responses to Cybersecurity Governance in Africa

Measures to address the security challenges of the information society have given rise to the concept of cybersecurity governance. One major aspect of cybersecurity governance is the establishment of legal measures to criminalize and deter malicious acts that affect the integrity, confidentiality, availability and security of digital data and computer systems. Accordingly, several States and intergovernmental organizations across the world have established legal frameworks to promote cybersecurity governance. This is also the case in Africa. The African Union has adopted a Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, while other African regional intergovernmental organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Community have established legal and policy frameworks for cybersecurity governance. In addition, many African States have developed legal and policy frameworks to promote cybersecurity, while some others in the process of developing such frameworks. However, most of Africa’s responses to cybersecurity governance have been focused on the establishment of criminal law measures. Yet while the establishment of criminal law measures is regarded as a critical component of cybersecurity governance, the isolated existence of such measures may not produce desirable outcomes in terms of minimizing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Africa’s information society. This paper seeks to make a case for the development of other critical components of cybersecurity governance, including technical and organizational measures and user education. It suggests that ‘stand-alone’ criminal law measures will not be able to reduce the rising trends of cyber-criminality in Africa, and that the timely development of other critical components of cybersecurity governance is imperative especially due to the peculiar challenge of weak law enforcement capacities and justice delivery systems in many African States.

Correlation of International and Russian National Law with Regard to Environmental Protection of the Caspian Sea

In 2018, the legal status of the Caspian Sea was clearly defined. Hence, the issue of sustainable development takes the centre stage. Regional legal regime of environmental protection may develop through the transfer of executive functions provided for in the intergovernmental convention and entrusted to the national authorities of the Caspian States to a single competent authority in order to improve their efficiency. The article is aimed at studying the issues of correlation between international legal rules on the Caspian Sea environmental protection and Russian national legislation in order to identify the optimal scope of executive functions that can be transferred to a regional intergovernmental organization, as well as to identify promising directions for further development of the applicable national legislation. The author shows that for a more efficient environmental protection of the Caspian region the Caspian states need a single regional intergovernmental body that coordinates their environmental activities, collects data and information on pollution on a centralized and timely basis, and regularly performs assessment of the Caspian region environment. Further, the author also shows the need for further development of applicable national legislation in the context of the concept of integrated coastal management

Review: The World Community and the Arab Spring, edited by Cenap Kakmak and Ali Onur Ozcelik

Review: The World Community and the Arab Spring, edited by Cenap Kakmak and Ali Onur Ozcelik

Governmental Forums with International Participation as a Foreign Policy Tool: the Experience of Russia and the North-East Asia Countries

The article examines the phenomenon of a government forum with international participation. Using the example of the Asian Economic Forum in Boao, the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok and the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, we analyzed the foreign policy meaning of such forums, identified their general and specific features, and defined this phenomenon. The East Asian case seems especially representative in the study of government forums, since the lack of trust and numerous historical, ideological, military, economic and other tensions make it difficult to create a regional intergovernmental organization similar to the European Union. The methodology of our research is «generalist realism», which considers the growth of supranational organizations in the 21st century quite logical. It is due to the desire of countries to facilitate cooperation, although it is carried out in the interests of any great power. It is concluded that the growing interest of national governments in this format of diplomacy is due to three factors. First, the host country expects to have a decisive influence on the formation of the agenda, the course of discussions, the preparation of possible political agreements, that is to create a new international institution under its control. Secondly, the host country seeks to expand economic cooperation and attract foreign investment, because most of these forums are called economic. It is extremely difficult to trace the correlation between investments and forums, but it seems incorrect to completely deny it, because forums with the participation of senior political figures and major businessmen increase the recognition of the host location. Thirdly, the host country is trying to improve its international image through forums, which directly depends on the political and economic status of the participants and the significance of the problems on the forum's agenda.

Revisiting international human rights treaties: comparing Asian and Western efforts to improve human rights.

This paper presents a review of existing literature to understand the effects and effectiveness of human rights treaties in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Southeast Asian countries, in contrast to Western nations. The review argues that factors at the international/treaty level and factors at the domestic state level increase the difficulty of implementing effective international treaties on human rights. At the international level, the treaties and organizations to which states belong suffer some weakness as discussed in international relations theories, while seven factors are particularly important for promoting effectiveness of international human rights treaties at the domestic level: political capacity, economic development, national human rights institutes, regional human rights courts, regional intergovernmental organizations, strength of civil society, and political stability. Although the number of international human rights agreements signed and ratified by Asia Pacific states is increasing following the trends of Western states, less research focuses on the implementation and effects of these institutions. Asia Pacific nations face vastly different conditions than Western nations, such as more complicated security environments, larger cultural and religious differences, and less development and democratic values in some cases. Due to these differences, it is important to consider other potential variables that influence efficacy of treaty instruments for non-Western nations. What are the differences between implementation of human rights treaties in Western and Asian nations? How do they affect the efficacy of international agreements on individual human rights?

Regionalism With and Without Metropolitanism: Governance Structures of Rural and Non-Rural Regional Intergovernmental Organizations

While prior scholarship has investigated many tools for regional governance across the rural-to-urban spectrum, the literature on regional organizations (councils of governments, planning district commissions, etc.) has been dominated by metropolitan regions. As a result, we know very little about the plethora of these regional organizations serving rural local governments. The omission of rural regions as a control variable from this conversation limits our ability to determine what traits are truly intergovernmental across this spectrum and what traits are specific to metropolitan and rural regions. Using a new, nationwide database of Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) and original governance documents, I present two unexpected empirical similarities between rural and non-rural RIGOs. First, I demonstrate that the quantity and relative dominance of the local governments within the territorial footprint of rural and non-rural RIGOs are nearly identical when population is held constant. Given the smaller populations within most rural RIGOs, this finding raises serious questions about how limited capacity is diffused and the need for multijurisdictional collaboration in rural areas. Second, I demonstrate that rural and non-rural RIGOs do not substantially differ in the way representational rights are apportioned to local governments on RIGO governing boards. Both rural and non-rural RIGOs similarly balance institutional membership with population proportionality in these collective choice arrangements. This evidence supports a broader intergovernmental hypothesis that an individual local government’s representational rights on a RIGO board are more likely to result from relative size differences among members than facets specific to a city–suburb dynamic.